My Passion with Martyn Holland: When the sky's the limit with a licence to thrill

My dad was in the RAF during national service, so I have always been fascinated by aircraft. But despite my love of planes, it was only 10 years ago that I got the opportunity to turn my boyhood dreams into reality and gain my pilot's licence.

To get a pilot's licence, you have to complete 45 hours of flying time. Some people go to America for a fortnight and do an intensive course, but if you're learning in the UK, the weather means it takes longer. It took me a year to rack up my hours, flying out of Netherthorpe airfield, near Worksop.

The strange thing about getting a pilot's licence is that it is the complete opposite of getting your driving licence. In a car, you're not allowed on the road alone until you have passed your test. In a plane, you can't pass until you have completed 15 hours of solo flight time.

I will always remember the first time I took a plane up on my own. The first thing you notice is how much lighter – and therefore faster to take off – it is without the weight of another person in the cockpit.

They only let you fly one circuit alone to start with – it is such a huge adrenalin rush, I think the instructors fear you will crash out of sheer excitement.

Once I started flying, I was totally addicted, and I confess, on a sunny day, I'll often stare out of my office window at the clear sky, thinking about my next trip. As well as feeling incredibly lucky to be able to fulfil my boyhood dream, I am fascinated by the geography of our country from the air.

I spend my life getting things built, and so much of our world feels built up; but from the air, you get a totally different perspective. There is so much green space around us, even 15 minutes' flying time from central London the landscape is beautifully green and tranquil.

I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to buy a share in a small four-seater aircraft with five other enthusiasts. It's based at Gamston airfield, near Retford, and most weekends we head out and explore.

Some of the UK is restricted airspace, but there are great swathes of the country that are open, and I have a favourite flight over to Wales that takes about an hour and lets you do a lap around Snowdon before heading back.

A few weeks ago, we flew to Edinburgh for Sunday lunch, which was pretty good fun.

The Channel Islands are only two hours away and we can be in northern France in less time than that, but for me it's not the destination but the getting there.